Guardiola says Haaland withdrawal against Fulham was precautionary after 'niggles'

Pep Guardiola has revealed his decision to substitute Erling Haaland at half-time in Manchester City's win over Fulham was precautionary after the striker complained of discomfort.

Haaland was withdrawn in favour of Omar Marmoush at the interval, with City having already put the contest beyond Fulham after racing into a 3-0 lead.

Antoine Semenyo and Nico O'Reilly struck to put City two goals to the good before Haaland drilled home from the edge of the area in the 39th minute.

That strike brought an end to the Norwegian's longest run without a non-penalty goal in the Premier League, having not scored from open play in eight matches since netting a brace against West Ham on December 20.

After City's win, which lifted them within three points of Arsenal at the Premier League summit, Guardiola was asked if he could provide an update on Haaland's condition.

Questioned why Haaland did not reappear for the second half, Guardiola said: "Niggles. He didn't feel comfortable.

"The reason why? He played many games. I didn't speak with the doctors; I don't know exactly what he has.

"He said he didn't feel comfortable and at 3-0, with Omar and more games to come, it was common sense."

Arsenal could stretch their lead in the title race back to six points when they face Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday, and Guardiola has warned City not to get ahead of themselves. 

"It's not three points," Guardiola told TNT Sports. "After the game tomorrow, we'll see how many points it is. They have a game in hand."

Fulham, meanwhile, have now suffered three straight Premier League defeats, with their hopes of challenging for European qualification taking another blow.

And though Marco Silva admitted City were good value for their victory after dominating the first half, he was unimpressed with aspects of his team's performance. 

"It was not good enough, definitely," Silva said. "As always, we have to be humble enough to congratulate our opponent, and City were better than us, simple as that. But, looking at ourselves as always, we were not at the level.

"We knew how they were probably going to start with their high press, and on the ball, clearly, we didn't play in the way we are capable of playing. 

"The man-on-man that City put on us most of the time during the first half, we were not able to break through.

"In these types of games, even if you aren't at your best level, when you have a chance, you have to be clinical and ruthless. We weren't, and that was the reason why we were losing the game at half-time."